BHUBANESWAR: The Special Court (PMLA) here on Wednesday framed charges against ponzi firm Rose Valley Group and its promoters accused of swindling a whopping Rs 17,000 crore from depositors in different states of the country.
The court has also given its approval for the attached moveable and immovable property to be restituted to the legitimate claimants.
The ED had filed a chargesheet against Rose Valley’s promoters Gautam Kundu and Shibamoy Dutta in the Special Court here in 2016.
The central agency had attached moveable property amounting to ‘332 crore (current value of more than Rs 400 crore including interest) in 2014 and 2015 through provisional attachment orders in connection with the case registered under PMLA.
ED’s Kolkata and Guwahati zonal offices as well as its Agartala sub-zonal office had also launched an investigation into Rose Valley’s multi-crore financial scam. In Kolkata, about Rs 19.40 crore has already been handed over to Asset Disposal Committee (ADC) formed by Calcutta High Court and the amount was restituted to the fraud victims.
Further, property worth over Rs 1,172 crore including Rs 147.64 crore worth movable assets and immovable assets valued at Rs 1,025 crore have also been attached by ED in Kolkata and is under the process of restitution, a statement issued by the central agency said.
Similarly, in Guwahati assets worth Rs 38.30 crore have been secured and in Agartala immovable property amounting to more than Rs 8 crore have been attached.
Apart from Rose Valley, investigation by ED’s Bhubaneswar zonal office has led to framing of charges in nine other cases since September, 2024. These cases relate to bribery scandals, extortion, chit fund scams, builder investor disputes, bank frauds, narcotics and illegal wildlife trade.
The total value of property attached in these cases is about Rs 160 crore. So far, ED has filed 75 chargesheets in Special Court (PMLA). “Efforts are underway to expedite framing of charges in remaining cases as well. Our endeavour is to take all the necessary steps to hand over the property to the legitimate claimants,” said officers of the central agency.